


One Early Morning (I Was Reminded Of Happiness)

by Geisterschiff



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Asexual Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Keith (Voltron), Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Pansexual Allura (Voltron), Polyamory, life on the road basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 11:58:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15907827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geisterschiff/pseuds/Geisterschiff
Summary: Every road trip has its set of rules. The driver picks music. The one in the back gets the snack. Shotgun navigates.But what if your whole life becomes a road trip? Does that require a completely other set of rules? Well, as Allura, Keith and Lance figured out a long while ago, it requires just one.The rule of each other's happiness.





	One Early Morning (I Was Reminded Of Happiness)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Enikawa_Moriko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enikawa_Moriko/gifts).



> Birthday present for the amazing Mori. It was supposed to be just a short drabble at first, then it grew and grew and now I'm completely in love with this AU :)

The car rolled to a stop next to the fuel dispenser at the perfect distance to it. Just where it was the most comfortable to fill the tank. Lance turned the car off. The key charms swayed in the same rhythm as the small dream catcher dangling from the rear view mirror. It fit right into Lance’s palm, had a white base, and blue, red and pink trinkets tied to it as decoration. It made Lance smile whenever his look brushed past. Just as the sight on the passenger seat.

The bright lights of the gas station fell on the lower part of a porcelain colored face, licking at the tip of the small nose. The relaxed, closed lids were enveloped by the rich shadow cast by the car hull.  
Keith was slumped in the almost not back tipped seat. Elbow lodged against the side of the car where the window ended, cheek propped against his fist. He was curled into himself so his naked feet could rest lifted up, one on the control panel and the other wedged against the open window. The night breeze rushing in played with his open flannel.  
Lance’s chest melted into a fuzzy ball of fluff that grew larger the longer his eyes roamed over Keith’s figure. His endearment threatened to well up and leak out. He could sit like this for hours. Leaning against the steering wheel and watching Keith doze. But they were at a gas station for a reason.

“Keith…” He tried with hushed words first, which bounced off Keith like rice corns thrown during wedding.  
“Babe.” Lance bumped the volume up a bit and added a brush against Keith’s bare arm. Keith stirred, letting out a quiet mumble followed by a bubbling snore. He scrunched his brows.  
Lance draped himself over Keith’s side, loud laugh vibrating against Keith’s neck, which finally startled him awake.  
“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty.” Lance pulled back and skipped one intake of breath. Keith was still half lidded, red fingerprints marking his cheek and the hair on the back of his head standing up from how it had been pinned against the seat when Keith shifted in sleep.

The shadow of ‘How could someone so beautiful have ever picked me’ lingered on the edge of Lance’s mind up to this day. But watching Keith rub at his sleep-glued eyes and yawn in a way that saliva ran down from the corner of his mouth, reminded Lance for the hundredth time that Keith was as much of a dork as him. He leaned over to pat Keith on his cheeks. To squish his lips into a duck face. To press a kiss onto those lips, ignoring the loud protests.

“Mmm, leff go!” Keith was still half asleep when he curled over and pillowed his head on Lance’s shoulder. “Why did you wake me up?”  
“We are at a gas station, Keith.” Lance brushed black bangs away and dark eyes looked up at him.  
“So?”  
“Don’t pretend like you forgot the rule.” Lance bounced his shoulder, jostling Keith’s head and watched a pout form on his lips. Half-asleep Keith was like stolen from an alternative reality, even though he still remained grumpy. He was also always easy to mess with. “Whoever sits on the passenger seat at the gas station gets the gas,” Lance recited and tipped his finger against Keith’s nose with every word.  


When silence settled in after that, Lance feared Keith had fallen back to sleep. But he also knew Keith needed a bit longer than a few seconds to slide into dreamland. He was the one of them usually turning twice around before he finally settled for the night. He nudged against Keith’s cheek again.  
“I know, I know… just give me a minute.” Keith turned his face into Lance’s shoulder, rubbing his nose all over it.  
“You better not be wiping your snot.” Lance totally deserved the punch that came after his words.  
“Screw you. How late is it anyway?” Keith looked like he was putting broken bones back together as he finally sat back up.  
“Ten past three.” Keith’s groan boomed through the car and Lance swatted him on the thigh.  
“Pssst…” Keith just grumbled, feet tapping over the bottom of the car. Lance watched one of his brows climb up, the other follow right after, before Keith gave up and opened the door. His shoes must have slipped underneath the seat, because he swung his naked feet out.    
“Oh no, you don’t.” Lance gasped, all outraged. “Keith. Put your damn shoes on. You will not step into Diane with dirty feet.” But the car’s door stayed empty, no mop of black hair peeked back in. “Don’t ignore me.”

Oh no. Lance hadn’t scrubbed the car down a few days ago for nothing. He imagined all the filth that would stick onto Keith’s feet and gagged. That was the only prompt he needed to dive across the passenger seat, hand roaming where Keith’s feet had been just mere seconds ago. He fished out a pair of flip-flops, ready to hurl them at Keith, when an arm wound around his neck and another sleepy face emerged from the back of the car to bury itself into Lance’s hair.  
“You two are as lively as ever, even in the dead peak of the night.” Lance ran his palm over the arm, trying to soothe.  
“Sorry, Lura. Did Keith wake you up?”  
“No. You did.” Their eyes met in the rear view mirror and Allura giggled at the pout scrunching Lance’s lips. “It’s okay,” she mumbled, pulled herself forward and nuzzled her cheek against Lance’s.  
With a smile on his lips he brought her hand up. He pressed a kiss to their connection - the little silver ring, which was all comfortable around Allura’s ring-finger, and of which there were two more. One his and one Keith’s. Allura laced their fingers together and Lance’s face melted under a chuckle when she mouthed at his cheek.  
“You should go back to sleep.” Deep down somewhere in his belly he knew it was late and she really should, but two floors above that his heart was pounding hard.

They didn’t have to continue the journey during the night. The absence of goal took the _hurry, hurry_ away. And yet it was their collective decision that tonight was their drive through night. It wrapped the night into something magical. Something unrepeatable.

Lance turned his head, more a slight tilt than an actual turn, and accepted the kiss Allura was obviously asking for. Even their beautiful princess wasn’t spared the morning breath syndrome after hours of sleep, but earth would open up and swallow him whole before he minded.

The side door of the car rattled open and startled them both. Allura slipped and hit her chin against the seat. Lance glared against the bright light spilling into the car and swore to god if Allura knocked any of her teeth out, Keith would need to collect his too.  
“Do you two want anything?”  
“Allura, are you okay?” Lance jumped up in his seat, turned around and knelt down. Allura was kneeling too, but on the bottom of the car instead, hand clutched over her mouth and rocking back and forth as tears glinted in her eyes. It hurt like a bitch, Lance knew too well. It hadn’t been just once he made a close acquaintance with the seats.  
“Let me see.” Lance’s heart switched into a staccato. Hearing Keith’s voice as soft as when he climbed up and knelt into the car was an experience. It was a silken fabric sliding down Lance’s skin. It was kitten’s fur under his fingers. It was an embrace in which they settled in for sleep. It was a rare occasion as Keith barely used that tone of voice, but it reminded Lance of the happiest moments of his life.  
With something purring deep in his chest he watched Keith asses the damage.

Allura’s lips were intact, and luckily so were her teeth. The swipe of Keith’s thumb over her lips must have taken the pain away and inflamed something else, because Lance could see the sparks of emotions between them, that were so different from his own.  
“Sorry. I didn’t want to startle you.” Keith’s apology was swallowed by Allura’s lips and her hum.  
They looked beautiful together, the exact opposite of hair and skin. Lance found himself clutching the shirt above his heart when Keith turned towards him.  
“What about you Lance? Aren’t you hurt?”  
The emotions crashed hard like a tidal wave and filled every nook and cranny of Lance’s body. Filled it too much and threatened to burst through his skin. Without a word he stretched his arms towards them. Keith was there immediately. Lance wound his arms around him like clutching on his lifeline and buried his face into Keith’s neck.  
“Lance, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Keith’s hands stroking down his back felt nice and so did the smaller hands that joined in his hair.  
“I just… love you both so much.”  
“So do we, silly.” Allura’s laugh bubbled like fresh spring, Keith’s joining in and then Lance’s own. It was a moment solemnly theirs with Allura leaning into them both. It was radiating. Almost scorching. And not for the first time in his life did Lance thought about how there was no other place he would ever want to be.

It took several calm minutes before Keith withdrew.  
“I need to go pay for the gas.” He smacked a kiss on Lance’s nose with a grin, which made him realize he was giving Keith the puppy look for breaking their hug.  
Lance settled back into the driver’s seat, his and Allura’s hands linked again, as he watched Keith grab his jeans. Because of course only Keith would nap in the passenger seat in a shirt and boxers and then go fill the gas tank like that. At least he possessed a small amount of decency to fully dress for the paying. Silly boy. But Lance loved him, even when his look fell on the passenger seat and Keith’s flip-flops were still mocking him there.

 

Keith was not a fan of coffee, but past 3:30 in the morning when he was awaken from his slumber on the passenger seat to get gas, it was starting to look like his new best friend.  
Who even came up with that stupid rule? Lance always muttered something about collective decision, but Keith just couldn’t imagine he would ever come up with this. Agreed to during a drunken stupor - maybe. But actively propose it?  
Either way it was set into stone now and there was no point fighting it. And if it replaced the ‘shotgun has always to stay awake’ rule, then it was only fair.  
Keith pushed the wallet into the back pocket of his jeans and looked down at the three coffee cups and a bag of pastries smirking back at him, sitting on the counter. He might have overestimated himself… a little.  
“Do you need help, sir?” The girl behind the counter asked. The image of Lance flashed through Keith’s head, all cackling once he saw Keith with the cashier in tow carrying their coffee, and it made Keith shake his head.  
“Nah, I’m good.” He got this.

Keith took a sip from his own coffee first. The bitter, hot liquid sloshed around in his mouth. The taste seeped into his tongue, into the tender flesh of his gums. It shot like electric current through his body, all the way to his fingertips and toes. The cup in his hand squeaked when he squeezed it. Keith hoped the coffee would at least kick in quick, as it usually did. It was the advantage of not drinking coffee that often.  
With his cup in one hand, the two remaining cups sealed with a lid in the other, pressing them against his chest just soft enough not to compress them and with the bag stuffed under his arm, he stepped out of the building. His naked feet were a tap-tap symphony on the tilled floor, and when the door whooshed close behind him, Keith cursed and took another sip. The car was gone from next to the dispenser.

Now, it wasn’t so difficult to spot a magenta colored VW bus. If anything, the car was more difficult to overlook. But the fact Keith had to walk all the way over to the manual car wash, where the bus was now parked, made him sour.  
He took his time walking, a sip of coffee here and there on almost every of his tenth step. The sight in front of him washed the sour feeling away and bloomed a smile on his lips.  
The side door of the bus was wide open and Lance was sitting there with Allura right next to him, their feet dangling and tangled. He had their guitar in his lap, fingers sliding over the strings in a too familiar melody. It was just much slower than it was supposed to be. Played in no hurry, almost lazy. It fit the motion of an old-timer parked at the gas station at four in the morning.  
Keith halted for a minute and stopped to breathe.

The sun was already licking at the low underside of the clouds and birds started their summer’s concert they played every morning. Yet for Keith it wasn’t loud enough to overpower the soft sound of the guitar. Of a man playing a more tender version of their song to his wife.  
Keith wanted to roll his eyes at himself, but then Lance flicked his gaze to Keith for a second.  
Keith’s naked feet were almost silent on the pavement. Overshadowed by the surrounding sound of nature and the nearby highway. Yet when Lance lifted his eyes for just a split of second it felt like he did so because he knew Keith was there. Meaning he was playing the song for his wife and his husband.  
When Allura’s humming joined in, Keith moved again.

“Guys, I brought-” The sound of the guitar broke off when Keith reached for the front door, the mound of the guitar stopping his hand.  
“Lance, what-”  
“You shall not pass.” Allura’s giggling erupted loud and clear as soon as Lance’s voice drifted off. Keith almost dropped the cups.  
“For fuck’s sake, Lance, don’t quote LOTR at me at four in the morning. It’s way too early for this.”  
“I told you, you will not get into Diane with dirty feet.” Lance’s voice was so balanced out it was almost creepy. It also meant he was dead-serious and wouldn’t let Keith off just so. A chill trickled down Keith’s spine.  
“And what exactly do you intend…” Keith’s voice silenced out as he followed the line of Lance’s look. The manual car wash. Lance wouldn’t… Oh yes, he would. He already stood up, guitar in Allura’s hands now and pushed Keith towards the wash. Keith’s flip-flops hanging from the tips of his fingers.  
“Hell no. Lance, you can’t be serious. Wait. At least let me put all this down so it doesn’t get wet. Hey Lance. Damn. Allura!”  
Allura’s flowing, flower skirt and her ringing laugh stopped them both. She gave Keith a look that had pity etched in as she took the cups and bag, but her mischievous grin told Keith that there was maybe less pity than it seemed.

“Lance, is this really necessary? It’s a waste of money. Look, my feet are basically clean.” Keith’s lifted leg was met with a deadpan stare. Lance threw the coin into the machine with more vigor than necessary and Keith finally peeked at the underside of his foot. It was just a shade away from being completely black. Thick grease and road dust clung to his skin and Keith had to admit Lance was perhaps a bit right. Those feet should not be stepping into their pristine clean Diane. He wouldn’t be climbing into their bed with such feet either.  
Keith drank from his own cup of coffee, which he had kept, and watched Lance man the washing wand. He was the one who usually washed the bus and knew his way around the best. As Lance adjusted the pressure of the water so it wouldn’t rip Keith’s skin right off, Keith’s eyes wandered down the tanned arms.

They were peppered with freckles in a thick layer from all the kisses the sun had pressed into his skin. Skin which was just as warm and soft as it looked. Keith loved to wake up early in the morning when all three of them were snuggled in the makeshift bed of the car. It was comfortable, there was no point arguing about that. But it was also a bit of a tight fit.  
Did they mind though? Not in the slightest. It just meant they had to cuddle in a bit tighter. Their legs tangled, Lance’s cold feet tucked in between theirs to keep them warm. Especially with Allura’s that were basically a furnace. And when Keith woke up like that, with Lance’s head snuggled under his chin, with Allura nestled against his back, with two pairs of arms wrapped around his body - Keith couldn’t help himself, and gave his sappy side a bit of free reign. And what it loved to do the most was running fingers over those arms.  
He started where the first glimpse of warm skin was. If either of them wore tank tops, or even better slept shirtless, Keith always felt like on cloud seven. He rubbed his thumb into their shoulders first and then let the finger slide down until they caught on the armbands around their wrists.  
Keith’s eyes caught on those now. The thread made armbands sitting loose around Lance’s wrists, which he never took off. Neither of them did. The wonky and uneven pattern of one of them made Keith blush, avert his eyes and take a large gulp of his coffee.

The ones around their left wrist were made by Lance and represented their relationship. They were blue and pink and red interwoven in an intricate pattern. Lance’s fingers were skilled and the threads flowed nicely and the edges were pretty.  
The ones on their right wrists were made by Keith and Allura. It was a surprise for Lance’s birthday and neither of them knew how to make them. They struggled and threw out a few, and in the end they had three imperfect armbands even small children would laugh about.  
Lance had loved them. Cried when Keith and Allura tied his around his wrist, placing soft kisses on his cheeks. It was more than a present to repay the ones Lance had made for them. It was a proof of their acceptance, where their words seemed not to be enough. Seemed not to reach.

Keith’s was in pink and purple and blue stripes. Allura’s was bright like a summer dress in pink, yellow and light blue. Lance’s had white woven into black, wrapped into purple and gray.  
Curled in the back of their bus on their bed, snuggled into the blanket they waited until Lance’s sobs died and his tears dried. It had been years ago and the armbands were worn by now, threads sticking out everywhere from where the knots were not pulled tight properly. But even though Lance did not need the proof anymore, neither of them took them down.

“What are you grinning about? Is this funny to you?” Keith snapped his head back, realizing only now the corners of his mouth had curled up.  
“Yeah, it kind of his.” He grinned wider and downed the rest of his coffee. And yelped. Loud and vibrant through the early morning when Lance doused him with the hose.  
The empty cup clattered over the ground and Keith stood there frozen, with his hands lifted and his mouth open. Water dripped from his hair onto his nose, his t-shirt clung to his skin and the tight jeans would be a pain to get off when wet like this. Lance snorted. Laughed. All bright teeth, ringing sound and palm slapping his thigh.  
“It’s freezing cold you asshole!” Keith kicked at him, but Lance maneuvered out of the way with a side step.  
“Don’t even think about kicking me with those feet. I’ll spray you again if I have to.” Lance warned, stifling his cackling noises into his palm.  
Keith pouted. And then was blinded when a flash went off. He rubbed at his eyes and looked around all confused. Like an owl who lost its prey it had charged for.

In front of the car wash stood Allura, Polaroid in one hand and the other already waving the photo around. Keith thought his grin from before was nothing compared to hers.  
“Oh, don’t mind me boys. Go on.” She urged with a chuckle, ready to snap another picture whenever the moment would be just right.  
“You should totally spray her too.” Keith let out a loud grumble, which was answered with a too false sounding outraged gasp.  
“Keith, that’s barbaric. You can’t just spray a lady with cold water.”  
“But you had no qualms spraying me!”  
“Maybe you have deserved it, Keith,” Allura called out, glancing at the Polaroid photo and giggling.  
Keith crossed his arms over his chest, but Lance nudged him before a pout could form.  


“Come, let’s wash your feet, so we can move on.” The whisper felt like a soft caress at his ear. Lance’s velvety fingers were a real one, brushing at Keith’s elbow. A warmth rushed through his veins from the point of contact. It was like magic, pulling his harsh stance apart with tender touches. He slid his arms around Lance’s waist and pressed him against his chest.  
“Keith, nooo, I will be all wet.” What sounded like a complaint didn’t really feel like one when Lance’s arms mirrored Keith’s.  
“Shut up. It’s your own fault.” Keith’s chuckle stripped his words of all bite. He nuzzled his face into Lance’s neck, breathing in the earthy scent of tingling summer and spilled popcorn on hot pavement. One of his hands rested against Lance’s lower back, the other sliding down his arm until his finger caught on Lance’s armband. Neither of them flinched when another flash went off.

“Let’s… just for a bit,” Keith mouthed at Lance’s jaw. It always spread through his chest all warm how Lance melted under affection. It was like taut strings stumbling loose. Like a butter under glowing sun at their abandoned breakfast table. Lance had so much love to give that for a long time he didn’t know how to really receive. Seeing him soak it up now was all the more satisfying.  
Keith pressed a kiss onto Lance’s cheek and let go of his hand. Only to open it wide in an inviting gesture, just as did Lance. With their foreheads leaned into each other, they peeked to the side. It wasn’t just the two of them after all.  
“Oh no,” Allura laughed. “Do you really think I will go over there and hug you when you are both wet?” She did. She did even as she spoke those words. Slipped into their open arms, Polaroid out of harm’s way, as their bodies engulfed her.

A large car passed on the highway. Large enough Keith felt the vibration under his feet. It resonated with the bird’s chirps and with the love that pounded loud in his ears. Today was obviously their sappy night, which only made him smile.  
He did not know how long they stood there. He just felt Allura breathe on his collarbone and Lance’s brown curl tickle his cheek. He felt the sun as it climbed up and warmed his side. Felt the traffic at the gas station pick up, more cars coming and going and all of those people probably stared at the three lonely figures hugging in the manual car wash.  
Did any of them mind? There might have been times they would have. Young and insecure. Unsure if this was the the path they should walk on. But at that time they all lived in that small town they swore never to return to if they ever got out.  
Until Allura inherited that old beaten up 1963 VW bus from her uncle, who wasn’t really one, but she still called him that. They spent a whole year picking it apart and putting it back together. In the back of Lance’s family’s yard because that was the only place they could. Their fingers bled and their bones ached as they worked to scramble enough money for spare parts. And when they finished, they painted it themselves. A deep magenta. A color that was solemnly theirs.  
In the time their college years were in heavy bloom, they took the whole summer for one trip. And when they returned, they returned changed. Uncurled and unwrapped. With their backs straight and proud.  
The remaining college years flew by and then it was only time to go - their things already packed and tucked away in the car. There were just a few goodbyes, but contrary to their previous decision, they did return a couple of times. They looked at the town with different eyes, in their memories only what they were fond of. Like the corner seat at the diner they used to hang out at when they managed to sneak out in the middle of the night.  
Otherwise they were detached from all the buildings and all the people. Instead a simple old bus had became their whole house. And what more - became their home.

When the bodies in his arm stirred, Keith snapped his eyes open. When exactly he closed them was lost to him, but so were all unimportant things. Important was only whom he was with and where. And why.  
Lance pressed a kiss on both his and Allura’s foreheads and then grabbed the hose that was laying forgotten on the ground.  
“I would say we ran out of time.” There was no more water coming from the wand.  
“I told you it was waste of money.” Keith stood there with his arms crossed over his chest again and Allura leaning against his side.  
“Don’t tease him. You know Diane is-”  
“Precious, I know.” Keith kissed Allura on the lips and moved over to the wash station, pulling his wallet out. “She is precious to me too. Gimme that.” He reached for the hose in Lance’s hand, but Lance jumped back.  
“Nuh-uh!” He wiggled his finger in a disapproving gesture.  
“Lance, quit pla-” Apparently, it was a bad idea to insert the coin first and then try to take the hose from Lance. Keith was sprayed with another stream of water and his loud curses one more time bounced off the walls around them. If he had been wet before, he was now soaked.  
“Oh, you did not want to do that.” Keith wiped the water from his eyes and stalked closer to Lance.  
“Oh, did to.” Keith heard Allura’s laugh. He saw Lance’s. They were both bone-shaking and deep reaching. A once in a lifetime happiness that seemed to stretch on and on from the point they set their feet into the VW bus. Keith’s deepest wish was for it to never stop stretching.  
“I’ll strangle you with the hose.” Keith threw an empty threat, laughing as well. The happiness rippled through his chest and pooled in his belly. Like a hot garlic soup your beloved cooked for you after you have just shoveled buckets of snow. Your feet were still cold, bitten by the frost, but they could already feel the warmth approaching them.

Keith wiggled his naked toes. They have gotten cold indeed.  
“Come on, Lance. Now give me the hose. I don’t need you to wash my dirty feet.”  
“You know I wouldn’t mind to, though…” The warmth in Keith’s belly exploded into a scorching heat. It was hot enough to melt flesh, yet the ripples were just a gentle caress that didn’t hurt. Just rocked Keith’s whole world.  
“Can you believe him?” He snorted at Allura, who looked at him with that little hint in her eyes that yes, she did. That she would too, without a second of hesitation.  
It wasn’t like Keith would not. He shook his head, feeling the tingling in his cheeks. He turned around to lean against the wall.  
“If you insist.”

It took a bit to wipe the grease off. Lance’s fingers on his feet were gentle, rubbing at his sole to wash it all away, and Keith with his head pillowed on his crossed arms felt like he could nod off anytime soon. Even when he heard another click, knowing Allura snapped one more photo. Even when he heard her shuffle away.  
He apparently even did, as loud giggling startled him awake.  
“Look at him, sleeping so cozily _tucked away_ like that.” It was Allura’s voice and Keith realized those were her hands now, which rubbed at one of his feet with a fuzzy towel.  
“You know very well how good Lance’s hands feel, when he is massaging you like that, Lura.” Keith complained and glanced over his shoulder.  
“Hmm, I haven’t fallen asleep while standing like that yet, though,” she chuckled and slipped Keith’s flip-flop on. “Come, you should go get changed. Lance already did.”

Keith’s clothes were cold and clinging. He peeled of his flannel and t-shirt and exchanged it with Allura for the towel. That might not have been the fairest trade, but she did not complain as she sneaked a hand around Keith’s waist and led him back towards the bus. They were greeted by the sight of two naked feet dangling over the edge of their bed.  
“So, which one of these do we put up?” Lance’s voice sing-sang from inside the bus and Keith just rolled his eyes as he shuffled out of his wet jeans. He was right - getting these off while wet was a major pain. He grabbed for their changing t-shirt. The one they got in four sizes too big and that reached almost to his knees, so that he could slip out of his boxers too. His eyes stumbled over the Polaroid sitting at the cupboard they had installed inside. He reached for it and snapped a photo.  
“Hey!” When Lance protested, he protested loud. But at this point that would not help him anymore as the color on the paper sprang to life and showed Lance’s butt in bright blue boxers with pink polka dots that Allura bought him. Just a pity the Polaroid didn’t record movement too and the little wiggling as Lance pondered over the back wall of the car was lost.  
“I vote for this one,” Allura chirped, nudging Keith’s side.  
“No way. You are not putting my butt up there.” That he still protested was beyond Keith.  
“I strongly believe it’s on there already.”  
“Twice actually,” Allura corrected and Lance pulled a face. A little scrunch of brows. A cute pout. Redness warming his cheeks and the tip of his nose.  
“Three times, actually,” he mumbled, averting his gaze. Keith couldn’t, but laugh out loud. It trickled and trickled out of him until Lance tackled him and Allura jumped on his back.  
“Hey, don’t jump on me like that.” It wasn’t a really protest as they all collapsed in a heap onto the car’s floor. A mess of limbs peppered with freckles and sweetened with smiles. Keith ran his hands over both of their sides, Lance sprawled on his left and Allura tucked at his right. Keith’s eyes fixated on the ceiling.

“You know what.” The smile was hurting his cheeks, how wide it was. It spilled the crackling happy feeling in a sparkling waterfall.  
“Hm?” Only Allura reacted, her fingers tracing his muscles through the t-shirt. Keith felt Lance’s face buried in his hair and heard him take deep breaths.  
“I think we haven’t taken a group photo in a while. With the three of us. And only the three of us.” The silence setting in after that was of content. Of no need to immediately answer without it being ignorance.  
“You are right.” Lance breathed into Keith’s hair, but tightened the hand around his waist. It made Keith laugh as he stretched his hand and pulled the Polaroid closer.

First thing he did was to photograph their out of the car dangling feet, which earned him a chuckle and a groan. And then he lifted it above their heads. Allura scooted up, cheek pressing against Keith’s Lance just turned his head, Keith’s black hair splayed over his skin when the flash went off.  
It took them a couple more minutes before they collected themselves. Parked in the far corner of the adjoined park place to have a calm breakfast full of lovely teasing words and fingers feeding bits of pastry.

In the end, they put both of their group photos up - of their faces and of their feet. They were tacked onto the back wall of the bus, among many, many others they took during their years on the roads. Later on, Allura added the one with Lance washing Keith’s feet as well. And even later, Keith sneaked the fourth photo of Lance’s butt in too.

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to come scream with me about Voltron or Kallurance or anything really, you can do so on my [tumblr!](https://geisterwrites.tumblr.com/)


End file.
